


I'm from the future... No really

by Bridthesin



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Cutesy, Fluff, Fluffy Ending, Time Travel, young hancock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-20
Updated: 2016-01-20
Packaged: 2018-05-15 03:49:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5770117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bridthesin/pseuds/Bridthesin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After something goes wrong with the transporter the soul survivor doesn't wake up in the institute but in a familiar place... well sort of familiar.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'm from the future... No really

       She blinked the bright blue light from her eyes and tried to see where she had landed. She wasn't sure what she'd expected but this place was familiar, a dumpster in a back alley and her spinning head trying to make sense of the grubby bricks surrounding her. Walking a little lopsided from the rush of the transporter she needed to figure out what had happened. Well if she'd accidentally been transported to goodneighbour she may as well talk this out with her favorite MayorG  
       Normally she'd be greeted by friendly hellos, people asking her stuff, the rumor mill that is Goodneighbour constantly looking for new gossip. But the streets were empty, somehow darker than before, dirtier. She heard a howl in the distance, like a man imitating an animal, it made the skin of her back crawl, she knew something was wrong. Still, she wearily pushed open the door to the old state house. It must have been the middle of the night, there wasn't anyone to be seen, not even the usual machine gun toting guards. Hancock wasn't in the big room she referred to as his 'office' or anywhere else she could think to look. She decided to check out the balcony, it'd give her a chance to get some fresh air after all.  
       Pushing open one of the double doors onto the cold night she shivered. That's when she saw them, what could only be described as a gang, blunt weapons in their hands and harassing some guy. She wondered if she could take them all down but she couldn't find her trusty 10mm or any of her weapons for that matter. She watched, hoping it wouldn’t escalate as the press of bodies circled the poor guy. They jabbed at him with pipes or baseball bats, then he lashed out, a last desperate punch thrown in any direction... not going down without a fight. Her heart lept into her jaw as she watched someone raise a pipe behind him and SMACK, it was over in a second, the drifter lay on the ground his brains gracing the pavement in front of him. She knew fighting well enough to know that, once you cracked open the skull there was a lot less blood than you'd have expected. The scene was so reminiscent of something, but with the fog of teleportation in her head she couldn’t figure out what.  
       That's when she saw him, a flash of bright blond in a sea of browns, ragged clothes and a look of hate. He slinked off to god knows where and she KNEW it was him, she didn't know how but she knew. It didn't really make any sense but the defiant beautiful young blonde she'd just seen had an air about him, the same aura Hancock always had. This could be the scene he'd described to her, brains like cram on the pavement, angry but so scared too. She decided to experiment.  
If it was true he'd have been on a drug binge by now, waking up in the statehouse at some point that day. She bedded down in a hidden corner and tried to get some sleep with a view of the door she knew he'd head through.

  
       The noise of a latch across the hall woke her, it was really early in the morning and he was staggering. He passed out at the top of the stairs, that was the wrong place, he needed to be further, actually in the room. Shit... Shit... She'd confirmed her suspicions but it wasn't going right. Walking over to the body on the floor, dusty old rags and face down, she gave him a little kick in the ribs. He just stirred a little and grumbled... good... out enough to move. Dragging him over to the cabinet was easy enough, he barely weighed a thing. Now all she had to do was wait. She couldn't stop herself from reaching out and touching the soft skin of his cheek. He really was handsome, he'd told her that himself... will tell her that... but she had no idea. This young boy in front of her would become the Hancock she knew and there was nothing she could do to stop it, not that she wanted to.  
       She waited until she heard him stir then ran to peak out from behind the door. She watched as he looked around himself bleerily before staring at the clothes in front of him for what felt like an age. He wrapped cloth around his hand and smashed the glass with the heel of it... good, even now he knew how to break glass right. He ran his hands over the beaten old velvet before slipping it off the stand. She looked away, she had seen every part of her Hancock and loved every inch of him but this man in front of her wasn’t him. It felt wrong to watch him change but once he had... dam he looked good.  
       Right, outfit sorted, next was KL-E-O, he'd been to her to ask for a loan. Finding the robot was easy enough, but what the hell would she do next? While thinking about her next move she was startled by a voice, it was familiar but not quite right, like a painting not quite finished,  
       "Why are you following me?" She spun around and there he was, wearing Hancock's duds,  
       "It's not exactly a big place kid"  
       "Look lady I've had a really... weird couple of days so I'm not really in the mood. Who are you?" She could see a sadness in the young Hancock's eyes that he only let her see once in a while, when he dropped his guard all the way. This kid... He wore it like a mask, or maybe the thing behind the mask. She longed to reach up and touch him, stroke his shining blonde hair and tell him it would be ok, that he'd find her and they'd be happy, he just had to wait,  
       "I'm no one, just a drifter"  
       "You really don't look like no one, not with those clothes and you're too clean to be a drifter" god, he'd always had been smart then  
       "I'm from your future, I got stuck here after an... accident" his eyes narrowed in that characteristic way that meant he was thinking, trying to catch her out at something, he looked her up and down  
       "You're railroad aren't you?"  
       "I don’t know what you mean"  
       "Yep, railroad I always knew you sneaky bastards were real. Anyway fuck it, I need to go get high... want to join me at the rexford? woman like you would probably use some... RnR"  
       "Hahahaha are you flirting with me?"  
       "Is it that obvious?"  
       "Oh Hancock you never change"  
       "wait... you just called me Hancock, I only just... how did you know that name?"  
       "I told you I'm from the future"  
       "Yea, sure, so what am I doing in the future?" He said, cocking his head to the side with a sly grin  
       "You're the Mayor of this place, when you aren't running around the commonwealth with me"  
       "Yea right some lowlife coward of a drifter like me ends up a mayor... you're way more crazy than you look"  
       "You should talk to KL-E-O, ask about a loan, you'd be surprised what someone can do once they put their mind to it"  
       "Sure, I'll do that" he turned away and walked in the wrong direction, away from KL-E-O's little shop front. Maybe she'd said too much counting on the idea he wouldn't believe her. Well tomorrow she could sort the whole thing out, tonight was her first priblem she didn't have her pack with her which translated as no guns and no caps. For now she really was a drifter, homeless and in as much danger as any of the other bodies with nowhere to go, she'd have to find a safe spot and make do.  
       Sleeping wasn't easy, she was used to sleeping rough but usually had people with her, someone to take watch. Oh and a sleeping bag of some description, no luck here, it was the hard ground and the spot behind a dumpster. Still it was safer than out in the street and it seemed to be quiet, well it was until she felt the heavy metal in front of her move and the sound of vomiting. She peeked around the dumpster, aware that however good she was at throwing a punch it would be nothing against a bullet or a pipe to the head. Ohhh fuck... Shit... it's Hancock, young stupid Hancock and it looks like he's taken a weeks worth of chems and followed them with a chaser of any alcohol he could get... dam it... He said he was staying at the Rexford. She had to move round the rubbish to get over to him,  
       "Hancock?" She said, before placing a hand on his shoulder,  
       "Hunfnirfill" the garbled noise was accompanied with a useless swipe at her,  
       "Hancock look at me" she pulled the half conscious boy upright, a hand on either arm to settle him,  
       "Oh, youuuu'rue rheeeeaat prituy laydie" she could hardly understand him, but took it as a compliment anyway,  
       "Hancock what are you doing here, you said you were staying at the Rexford?"  
       "Naahhhh shat's that's... no caps unnnnlles I got a laydie" so she'd caused this by just brushing him off, well if he wouldn't spend the caps for himself he'd need company,  
       "Well you've got a lady now, come on let's get you to a bed"  
       "I'ma gonna show youuuu a reeeel good tiiime prudy laydie" he wasn’t, he was going to pass out the second he got to the room, she wrapped a shoulder around him and helped him walk. Unsurprisingly, after a few attempts to kiss her (one landed on her shoulder, one on the door behind her, one on his own hand) he fell to snoring on the bed.

        It hadn't really occurred to her to worry about herself until she woke the next morning and looked over to see the wrong Hancock sleeping beside her. She ached for her ghoul then, this young blonde man beside her would be him, eventually, but he was a long way off. Mind you she could worry about how to get to the future when she was done making sure it would be her Hancock she'd get back to. The boy beside her snorted loudly and threw his arm over her before opening his eyes and giving her a bleary look she knew too well… whatever he was thinking wasn't going to happen, it would just be far too weird,  
       “Morning” she said to him, chipper and just a little louder than needed  
       “morning sunshine, why are we both wearing clothes still?” he made to move closer to her “wow god my fucking head”  
       “yep, your fucking head”  
       “what did you do to me woman?” oh if only you knew kid  
       “you did this yourself, now get up and… I don’t know… clean up? We've got a busy day ahead” he groaned but still did as he was told, she might like this Hancock, less argumentative.  
       She ended up having to do a lot of the talking with KL-E-O, he was just far too hungover and kept talking about how much his head hurt. God he really was young, her Hancock would just take a quick swig of whiskey and get on with it. In the end the robot gave in and agreed to lend them guns, possibly it was because of careful persuasion, or hatred of Vin (the current arsehole of a mayor) maybe she felt sorry for the sad looking blonde in front of her, all puppy dog eyes and softness.  
       Next up she had to figure out where they'd train up the militia, Hancock was a lot of help on this bit seems he knew the area surrounding diamond city and Goodneighbour like the back of his hand. A place picked out and a safe route there they moved on to how to get other people to play along. Halfway through discussing this he dropped a massive question on her,  
       “why are you doing this?”  
       “I told you, I'm from the future”  
       “stop the bullshit, really why? Why help me?” she paused to think a while,  
       “where I come from there's this great guy, he's smart and fun but most of all he knows how to lead people, just the right mix of fear, respect and kindness. He's won over so many people he could do anything but he chooses to lead his little band of misfits because they need him. I think he's the kind of person you can be if you just… trusted yourself… stopped letting the dickheads win”  
       “you think so?”  
       “I do”  
       “I don’t, no one stands up for us”  
       “that's why you've got to do it” he seemed to think this through for the rest of the afternoon while they planned, she could almost see the cogs working through the hangover. By the night it was all done, he knew the plan and just had to stick to it, he didn’t need her anymore. Now she got the time to worry about herself… that's when she remembered Dr Amari, smartest woman she knew and a bit of a wiz with machines as well as the human brain. If anyone could help her it would be the doctor, only thing is while she knew the doctor quite well the person the doctor would come to know was still frozen somewhere under sanctuary hills. She'd have to convince her and that wouldn’t be easy. Dr Amari was downstairs in the memory den as usual, though normally she could just pop down whenever she wanted this time she'd had to talk her way past Irma upstairs. She had to guard herself when she spoke to the woman who would one day be her friend,  
       “Dr Amari?” she asked the room in general  
       “yes, how can I help you?”  
       “em...well are you willing to keep an open mind?”  
       “I am a scientist, it's my job to keep an open mind but that can only go so far”  
       “I'm… well I'm from the future” the doctor almost laughed, almost, but her demeanor quickly returned to depreciative “yea, I know, it sounds mad, Hancock doesn’t believe me either… only…”  
       “who on earth is Hancock, you talk like I know the man”  
       “you will… or maybe do… but… not as Hancock. Look I know you don't believe me but I also know that you have machines that can pluck out my memories so just look at them” Dr Amari did as the vault dweller from the future lay back in a memory lounger and looked at the event of the past week, she'd forgotten just how hellish they'd been. Now should have been the payoff, finding Shawn, getting answers but here she was,  
       “I believe you” the doctor said after the procedure was done “this young man, he's really going to become that?”  
       “what do you mean by that?” she was defensive about her ghoul and knew the attitudes were different now… then… whatever,  
       “oh no I don't mean a ghoul, I meant that he's really become a great man, why does he torture himself with the past when he's done so much for the Commonwealth?”  
       “I think it's mostly habit by now”  
       “hummm yes I suppose you're right, anyway now that I believe you how do you think I can help you?”  
       “that’s the tricky part… I don’t really know, I just want to go home”  
       “I don’t know how I can help you there” the doctor turned towards her desk, writing something “but these people might”  
       “oh” the paper in her hand simply said, follow the freedom trail  
       “thanks I didn't think of that, I already know where the railroad are… I think I saw deacon hanging around outside anyway”  
       “how do you..?”  
       “I'm from the future remember”

       Outside of the two little shop fronts she spotted him, by now she knew Deacon well enough to look past the disguise. This time it was a raggy blue jacket and a flat cap, still wearing shades. Knowing him he'd be suspicious of her but also knowing him she guessed the direct approach would work best. She sidled up to him,  
       “Deacon I need your help” she told him, he faced her with an unabashed look of shock, obvious even under the glasses,  
       “how in the hell do you know my name?” he whispered,  
       “relax no one's looking, we're just two drifters having a conversation”  
       “still doesn’t explain how you know my name”  
       “ok, I'm going to give you some instructions, I know you don't trust me so I won't come with you, follow them in your own time then come find me”  
       “sure, doesn’t sound like an ambush at all… tell me then and I'll think about it”  
       “go to Dr Amari, tell her the girl from the future sent you and do as she says”  
       It was about four hours until he came out of the memory den, she was lounging on a wall watching the door so it didn’t take long to find her. He took her by the arm and led her to somewhere more private,  
       “girl from the future indeed”  
       “you watched it then?”  
       “why didn’t you tell me first?”  
       “you trained me deacon, I knew you wouldn’t believe me in a million years”  
       “that's true… ok better go see Des”

       Desdemona was, as usual, stood in HQ near a huge map although the room at the switchboard looked a fair bit nicer than the catacombs she knew. Des was smoking and looking thoughtful. When they entered through the back she charged up to them, her face almost splitting in rage,  
       “DEACON what are you thinking bringing a stranger here? You know better than that”  
       “it's alright Des, she's one of us… checked her credentials myself”  
       “a tourist?”  
       “actually no, I'll be one of your best heavies in a couple of decades”  
       “well you aren't one now” Desdemona crushed the cigarette but out under her shoe, it was a silly tick she had when she thought she'd won an argument like,  
       “look, Desdemona, you probably won't trust me but everything I'm about to tell you is true… I'm from the future, we built a device to get me into the institute but it went wrong and I ended up here”  
       “Deacon is this one of your stupid jokes because I'm not finding it funny” it sure took a lot to persuade Desdemona that she was telling the truth. A few back and forth messages with Dr Amari were what did the trick in the end. Tinker Tom arranged for the group to meet together a day later at the memory den so he could watch her memories for clues as to how to help. She figured that still having no money it was back to behind the dumpster for her. She saw Hancock the second she rounded the corner, she'd figured he'd be passed out somewhere but he was nonchalantly leaning against the wall and waiting for her,  
       “come on, let's go to the Rexford” he said, a small push against the wall all he needed to be standing in front of her,  
       “thought you only did that when you had a woman to entertain?”  
       “well I've got a woman I need to apologize to for the last time I attempted to entertain her and I'll not let that same woman sleep here” he patted the green metal beside him, how the hell did he know?  
       “alright but nothing's going to happen, you're a bit too young for me” he raised an eyebrow and took her arm to lead her to the hotel. The staff gave her some odd looks as they checked in, she'd thought this place was for the… less discerning anyway, she couldn't have been the strangest thing there right? In the room he threw his jacket into a chair and flopped down on the bed, she hovered by the door,  
       “how come they kept looking at me like that downstairs?”  
       “does it matter?”  
       “yes, it does”  
       “it's nothing to do with you, it's… well it's more about me”  
       “tell me, please”  
       “fine, but I don't want you to think I'm like, a dick or anything”  
       “promise”  
       “I tend to come here a lot, with women, different women… you're probably the first one they've seen me with twice”  
       “I can believe that”  
       “it's not like i'm a misogynist or anything, they all know what the deal is… only there's something about you, I know you aren't going to fuck me but I still want to be here with you”  
       “oh kid, you'll figure this stuff out eventually, trust me”  
       “so you know me in the future then” he said sarcastically  
       “yep… you flew me to the moon once”  
       “bullshit”  
       “yea that one was a load of bull”  
       “who are you though?”  
       “you'll have to wait to find out”  
       “I don’t believe for a second you're a time traveler” he scoffed as she sat on the bed next to him  
       “do you think you ever will?”  
       “nope”  
       “do you have something… solid… like an old coin or something?” he rooted around in his pockets  
       “got a subway token” he held up the little metal disk to her  
       “perfect can I borrow your knife?” she walked over to a table in the corner of the room and started working on the subway token with the knife. He watched her quizzically, popping a few mentats,  
       “here” she sat back down on the bed and handed him the metal disk “give it back to me at some point when you do believe me… you'll know when”  
       “what are the letters?”  
       “my initials, so I know it's that exact one when you give it back to me.”

       They slept side by side, she was happy for the almost familiar form behind her. At some point in the night she must have cuddled up to him because they woke in each other's arms, it was nice but it wasn't him, not really. She had to go meet tinker tom, he was probably her best chance of getting home the short way. Deacon and Tom were waiting for her just inside, Tom looked so uncomfortable and fidgety and so young. Once he'd done his thing and watched her life take the weirdest turn it ever had (and this coming from someone who woke up 200 late) he pretty much knew what to do,  
       “right, so, we rebuild it!” he seemed so proud of himself at this revelation “then, you see, we put in the codes, only with your time and date… it can be ready in a few days!”  
       “are you sure?” she was, understandably dubious  
       “yea yea yea it'll fine, I'm just going to head back to the base, being out here is… weird… and I'll start building the thing” he left looking way more excited than she felt comfortable with. Deacon made sure she would be alright, passing her some caps and saying she can pay him back when she gets home then vanishes after Tinker Tom.  
       So She heads off to find Hancock, to tell him she'll be leaving soon and debates just going to HQ and waiting there. But when she does find him he looks up at her with big sad puppy dog eyes (blue, not the black she's used to) like he's about to cry,  
       “what's wrong?” she asks him, concerned  
       “I don’t think I can do this… I'm a coward” he looks like his soul is destroyed, maybe she was too late, maybe helping him was the wrong thing to do,  
       “I think you're brave, far braver than you know, you stood up to your brother and left Diamond City even though you didn’t have to and you've managed out here too”  
       “how do you know all of that?”  
       “I told you already I'm….”  
       “a time traveler, yea I get it, you can keep the mystery, just… I... “ she knew that face, what he was asking for without words, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled his head to her shoulder. Closing her eyes she put her cheek to the top of his head and idly played with his long blonde hair,  
       “you'll be alright kid, trust me, I'm from the future”

       The next two days went by in a whirl, that night she held the Hancock of the past… or the now… and for once wasn't thinking about what he would become. She just wanted to hug a scared young man on the edge of turning his life around. She helped with training up the drifters he'd recruited for this uprising, she had a lot of knowledge to pass along. Every now and then she'd catch young, human Hancock staring at her ‘just wait kid’ she'd think to herself. It was nice to know he still liked her as a human though, she'd half expected him to be some cocksure kid with nothing to lose and he almost was. But underneath that was a sad child who just wanted everyone to be safe and that little spark of caring was what she recognised most from her Hancock.  
       She'd said her goodbyes and now she was stood on the transporter platform again. God this better work! And Tom and Deacon were shouting things at her that she couldn't hear. And she felt an electric tingle on her skin. And the blue flash and white light.

  
       Looking around her it looked like the outskirts of old Boston, where the houses weren't so close together. She was alive. She walked in the direction of Goodneighbour, not sure what she would find but really just wanting some water and a seat. Pushing open the gate to the town she breathed in the stink of the place, it smelt like her Goodneighbour and people were waving to her or giving her a friendly greeting. She ran up the stairs to where she hoped to find him and threw herself into Hancock's arms,  
       “woooh slow down there, well ain't you a sight for sore eyes”  
       “you're Hancock, you're my Hancock”  
       “always will be sister” and she planted kisses all over his scarred flesh with a whole new appreciation for it. She didn’t tell him what had happened, not really, just that the transporter had gone wrong and she'd been stuck somewhere for a while. After talking for what felt like hours he got up to leave the room, taking something from his pocket and placing it on the table before her. She picked it up, it was worn with age but she could see her initials cut into the surface of the flat disk. She turned it over in her hands examining it, there was writing on the other side too,

  
       “I never forgot you” was all it said.

 

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for a prompt from Lolasreverie on Tumblr that kinda sparked my imagination (that's what they're for after all). It really is just a fun piece that I'd intended to keep short but kinda got away from me. Anyway hope you enjoyed it.


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